Testimony Regarding Oversight of the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division (B-HEARD) and Responses to Mental Health Crises, and Int. 1019-2024 and Int. 0532-2024

We welcome the Council’s exercise of oversight of the B-HEARD program, a crisis-response program that has been operating with gross failures of transparency and public reporting since it was rolled out in 2021 by the City under the auspices of the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health (MOCMH). Our comments will touch on the B-HEARD program, alternative models of mental health crisis response, Daniel’s Law and a proposed change in the role of MOCMH. We will also offer our comments on the two bills, Int. 1019-2024 and Int. 0532-2024.

In New York City, people who experience a physical/medical health emergency are dispatched health professionals who are specifically trained to provide medical services. By contrast and as we all too well are aware, people who experience a mental health emergency are almost always sent police officers as the first and primary responders—not health professionals. B-HEARD is a “pilot” project that currently deploys teams of health professionals – including two EMTs, or paramedics, and one mental health professional – to some, but not all, 911 mental health calls. BHEARD is not a true non-police response nor is it a true health- informed and trauma-informed mental health crisis response model.